EP108: Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been the President of Egypt since 2014. 

Egypt perennially struggles economically and politically, with high inflation, widespread youth unemployment and military dictatorship. In fact, Egypt has been under military dictatorship for nearly seventy uninterrupted years- nearly, because after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, democratically elected Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, came to power. But he was soon deposed in a military coup in 2013. The man who took his place was Sisi, today's subject.

But as you’re about to hear, Sisi’s Egypt is far from stable, his continued leadership far from assured. He walks a constant tightrope, lurching from one crisis to another, painfully aware that among his three immediate predecessors as President, one was assassinated, another forced to resign, and the third imprisoned, later dying behind bars. 

My guest today is Amy Hawthorne. Amy is a Middle East specialist who has formally worked with the US State Department, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Project in Middle East Democracy. As well as Sisi’s leadership style and background, we discuss the 2011 Revolution, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s dire economic situation, and Egypt’s perspective on the War in Gaza.